Gym Leader Beginnings: Roark
by Pokekid84
Summary: A look into Roark's early days as gym leader; his leadership of the mines, the gym and of course his love life. Mosshipping First FanFic so please go easy on me. For my host ShyKneeStardust. Flammers can meet my fire extinguisher. Warning the update today was just a cleaning no new chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Gym Leader Beginnings: Roark**

Welcome. Thank you for reading my first story.

Enjoy

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As Roark approached his new place of work, he had a sense of an anticipation and excitement. This was an entirely new adventure.

THIS was where he would prove himself worthy as a gym leader, just as powerful as his father. He had to thank Riley for such an opportunity. Roark wouldn't be here if not for his recommendation.

But before that he must introduce himself to the other gym trainers. He didn't see why he had to seeing that he already met most of them during visits to his grandfather, a.k.a the head of the Oreburgh mining facility, as a child.

But than again there may be new members who haven't been seen during his visits. "I guess I'll have to get to know them as well," Roark thought. So ready for his introduction Roark walked up to the doors. As he did,thoughts of uncertainty and insecurity filled his head.

But what if they didn't like him?

What if someone stronger came by for his position?

No. He can't think like that. Whatever happens will happen. Taking a deep breath, Roark pushed the doors open.

He walked into the building and immediately had his breath taken straight from his lungs, as he looked at the inside of the gym.

Outside the building it was all steel and paint. You'd have no clue that the inside had a stone interior. Aside from being stone there were a series of stairs and bridges, each leading up to a platform at the end of the opposite side of the wall with an enlarged coal badge hanging just above it.

At the sound of opening doors everyone turned their heads to see their new leader. Words were spoken about him.

"That's our leader?"

"Never expected him to be so YOUNG."

"C'mon. I hear Eterna City has a gym leader about his age."

"Yeah! Besides he's the son of Gym leader Byron."

"WHAT?! BYRON HAS A SON?"

"Well I'll be damned."

"Ummmmmmmm. Hi," Roark said in attempt to get their attention. Surprisingly at the sound of his voice, everyone quieted down and cleared a path to the platform with the enlarged coal badge replica. Supposing they wanted him on the platform, Roark walked forward until he reached the platform, glancing at faces some new some old. When he got on he turned around to face the many gym trainers that now followed him.

"Um. Hello, as you may or m-may not know I am Roark Cobalt. I may not be the leader you expect but, I-I promise I will prove myself to you. Not only as a gym leader but someone you can trust."

Everyone clapped. Roark smiled. His speech wasn't much. But it showed his intentions and that seemed to be good enough for them. "Well with that being said I will now report to the sinnoh Pokemon association. Everyone else, get to work. As the gym trainers either left the gym to work on the mines, or took position in the gym, Roark pushed on the enlarged coal badge replica. Said replica rose revealing a TV screen. The screen blinked to life and showed a man with tall hair in the shape of an ice cream swirl, square spectacles and a mustache.

"Mr. Berry, Gym leader Roark reporting. "

"Ah yes Mr. Roark good to hear from you. So how did it go?" asked Mr. Berry.

"It went pretty well. The trainers seemed enthusiastic to work with me."

"Excellent now, like other new gym leaders, you will be given one month to prepare your team and customize the inside of the gym to your liking. Unless of course the gym's interior design is satisfactory to you and already have a team prepared."

"The inside seems pretty good to me sir and I'll have a team ready soon enough."

"Very well contact me as soon as your team is formed."

The screen then faded to its original black. Roark than pulled out a pokeball and released a small blue and gray dinosaur creature with stubby arms and legs. "Hey Cranidos." He said.

"_hey"_ it said back in response.

"So here we are taking Grandpa's gym."

"_Yep"_

"You don't seem to be excited for some reason. Mind telling me why?"

"_I just don't see what the big deal is. You don't need to be a gym leader to be better than your dad"_

Roark having not understood a word he said, misinterpreted his words and said "look I know this needs getting used to but this is a HUGE step for us. If we maintain our position well, we could be better than our fathers!

"_You'd think he'd understand me after all we've been through. *sigh* Well I guess it IS nice to have a small change of pace"_ Cranidos decided to nudge his trainer as a gesture saying "fine I'll go with it for now". Or something along those lines.

"Thanks buddy" The (new) gym leader said.

And that's where it began for our little gym leader.

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AUTHOR NOTES

A/N Okay um PG84 here just finished my first chapter to my first story . Now I'm going to say this right now. I'm not going to rush straight into the mossshipping. I'm going to take my time with it and throw it in when the time is right. Now is not that time.

**READ AND REVIEW PLEASE :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Hello. Hello. And Welcome to the second chapter of Gym leader beginnings: Roark. Now let's get on with the disclaimer shall we

I, PG84 have no ownership over anything that controls Pokémon merchandise.

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BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. *click* Roark arose from his bed in his room in his grandfather's house. He rubbed his eyes and searched his night-stand for his glasses. After finding them and putting them on, he groggily made his way into the bathroom to take a shower.

But once he got to the shower, he pulled the curtains and saw his trusty partner lying on his back with his legs twitching. Roark looked at the time. 7:57. Roark shrugged and lugged himself to the kitchen to make himself breakfast.

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After eating his meal he decided it was time for his partner to wake up so he went into the bathtub to still see him still face-up kicking his feet. Roark then hit the bathtub with his toothbrush, effectively awakening the head butt pokemon. Cranidos then stretched it's tiny body in the tub before seeing his master above him. _"Well. You know what to do." _Roark sighed and picked the dinosaur off the tub and onto the floor. The Cranidos then proceeded to head to the sofa where it could rest properly.

**5 minutes later**

Roark then emerged from the shower. After doing so he got dressed in his usual outfit. Putting on his signature mining hat, he took cranidos' pokeball and returned him. He then left the house to head to his grandfather's office

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"I have no idea how this gym leader thing works." thought Roark as he walked towards the mining museum. "I never really got the chance to ask dad about the position"

***FLASHBACK***

Roark and his dad were just at the border between jubilife and route 218. The ocean tide was slowly washing up to shore giving the grass and trees the salty nourishment "Uuuuuuum. Dad?"

"yes?"

"Uuuuuummmmm… Nevermind" after what seemed like hours of awkward silence, Roark gave his dad a hug

"I'll miss you dad"

Byron simply embraced him and said "I'll miss you too HardHead"

"Daaaaad."

"Right, right no more nicknames I got it." After a few moments of silence both turned away from each other and headed towards different parts of there lives.

***END FLASHBACK***

Roark was currently mentally banging his head and yelling at himself (still mentally). "I can't believe I didn't ask him while he was there! IDIOT!" "Well, I can't call him now. I'll just have to go to grandpa for this." He then found himself in front of the doors of the Oreburgh mining museum.

Roark then opened the doors and walked in. He smiled. He never got used to seeing this place no matter how many times he visited. He always got the feel of being in between his time and the time when Pokémon such as Armaldo roamed the land/sea. Looking to his left he saw what appeared to be a chunk of earth. But being the gym leader's grand/son he knew that it was really the resting place of some turtle Pokémon. He then stared at it imagining the possible forms of such a creature. Then he remembered why he was here. Roark walked towards the front desk and rang the bell.

A man in a miners uniform then appeared

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Uuuuuummmm … is Mr. Cobalt in?"

"Is there anything wrong?"

"No. Why?"

"Well people don't usually ask for Mr. Cobalt unless something is wrong. Why do you need to see him?"

"I-I'm the new gym leader and I have some questions for him."

"Really? *Pause* Oh Yeah! I've heard of you! The 's Grandkid am I right?"

" Y-Yes sir."

Very well sir, his office is on the second floor next to the Rampardos display."

Thank you and please call me Roark." And with that he left to his grandfather's office.

On the way Roark looked at the various changes made to the museum. The display cases now seemed a bit more … lifelike. Looking at their comfort made Roark smile. It was just too cute seeing the baby fossil pokémon running around. Though the most noticeable were two tall Gray curtains with big words saying "Coming Soon" Huh. He'd have to ask his grandfather about that. He eventually made it to the rampardos display with the mother watching her little babies running around.

Roark then took notice of a door on the right side that said "Ebisu Colbalt." Then he entered. The office was one of the only things that haven't changed these past few years. His grand father was always one for simplicity. A desk, a filing cabinet and an In/out box was all that currently occupied his office. As well as the man examining various papers. When his grandfather noticed him he straightened up, put his papers aside and got a smile on his face. "Roark! I didn't know you were visiting. How can I help you, son?" Roark simply starred at him trying to figure out how he was going to ask his grandfather the ropes about his position.

Eventually he just asked "Can you tell me exactly what a gym leader is suppose to do? I mean … when I'm not challenging trainers."

His grandfather looked at him in confusion. "Now wasn't my idiot son supposed to tell you this stuff?"

"Uuuuuuuummmm… I forgot to bring it up with him." Roark responded quietly.

"Oh well. There's nothing that we can do about that. Ahem."

A gym leader is a big responsibility to have. You must be aware of the events that are taking place in the city and watch over them. You also need to protect your respective city from any danger. A gym leader must also encourage his fellow trainers and push them to be stronger. As you know a gym is for challenging trainers, even those that work under the leader. And remember being a gym leader means that you are the representitive of the city you are watching over. So basically its like being a police officer, a mayor and a trainer all at once."

Hearing all that made Roark feel a little better. Except the protecting part "Uumm has anyone DIED doing the police part?"

Ebisu shrugged "No one in this reigion. Don't worry about it. Your strong, you know that"

Roark simply responded "Yeah. Guess I am."

Ebisu couldn't help but sigh. Roark always had those self confidence issues. The worst part was that he had no idea how it started! He really needed to fix this and fast. And Then, He was struck with insperation! "Say Roark. Why don't we head to Eterna City tommorow? Just you me and the pokèballs on our belts."

"Uuumm are you sure grandpa? I-I have to get ready for my position."

"Nonsense my boy! You still have another two weeks don't you?"

"I-I guess so."

"Well get back home and ... uhh ... do whatever it is you do in your free time and get ready for tommorow, we got a big day ahead of us!" Roark's face perched into a light grin. "Okay good bye grandpa" The spectacled gym leader then left the room.

Roark decided to stick around the museum for the rest of the day, hanging around the audio log room. The audio log room had all the recorded observations made about the fossil pokèmon as time moved on. The reason on why it was roark's favorite part was because he always felt more ... Intelligent when listening to the voices. "Eterna huh?" "Wonder what it's like over there?" he wondered. Then after listening to the last audio log he left the museum, preparing for tommorow.

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**Review please~**

5355148


	3. Chapter 3

**I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! :( **

**I WAS TOO BUSY READING OTHER FANFICTION I FORGOT ABOUT MY OWN**

**SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!**

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_Roark awoke in a field of flowers staring into the sun. He sat up and looked around, trying to find something. What exactly, he didn't know. That is until he saw a human in the distance. Curious he ran towards him/her. Eventually he came close enough to see what it was. Once he did, he stopped and stared. It was a girl. A girl about his age. She had orange-brownish hair With Black isosceles triangles above her eyes. The hair below her neck was dipped black. She wore a Dark green Crop Top that reached her elbows. with matching combat boots and Dark tan cargo shorts with a plain black belt wrapping around it. Her eyes had the same color her hair did only more enchanting, more mysterious._

_"Who are you?" he asked._

_The girl only laughed and pulled out a pokéball. She released the pokémon inside. A Roselia._  
_Roark could only gulp." A grass type trainer" He thought. With shaking hands, He slowly pulled out and enlarged Cranidos' Pokéball._

_Can he beat her?_

_Does he even have a chance?_

_Then a strange surge of confidence awakened into him "No. Even I have a chance. Dad is right. If you start thinking about defeat you'll never emerge victorious." He then threw cranidos' pokeball and released him. His partner ejected from the capsule ready for battle. Not even faltering at the sight of it's weakness._

_The wind suddenly picked up increasing the already thick tension. Roark was about to issue a command untill_

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Roark slowly sat up from his bed Awakening to his familiar ringtone. "A dream?" he wondered. He picked up his still-ringing pokégear. 1 NEW MESSAGE his (phone?) read.

Roark hit view and it said "Two hours from now be ready by the oreburgh gate."

Two hours. That was more than enough. Roark did everything he needed to do to get ready for the day. After putting on his hat he picked up cranidos' Pokéball, and returned him from his sleeping position on the couch. After finishing off what was left of his meal, he left his house for the Oreburgh gate

On the way to the gate Roark couldn't help but wonder why the Oreburgh gate. The fastest way to get to Eterna city through Oreburgh was the cycling road. He'll have to ask about that and maybe the upcoming feature at the museum. During The trip he thought about the dream he had last night.

"What on Arseus' plates was that all about?" Roark wondered. "Is she some trainer I'm going to fight? My first Challenger? I have to be ready then, she probably won't be the first to have a grass type with them. I need to think of a strategy."

Eventually he arrived at the "gate" separating Oreburgh and Jubilife... Half an hour early. And his grandfather was no where in sight. But Roark wasn't concerned about that. He was concerned about how to combat a grass type trainer. "Most grass types are part poison too. So maybe if I use Cranidos' Zen headbutt, I can actually be on even grounds with her."

And speaking off headbutts, *BUMP*

While lost in thought he completely lost track of where he was going and his head ran straight into one of the nearby offline construction machines. It didn't hurt due to his helmet, but it made him a little dizzy.

"Urgh~" Roark groaned. But while recovering from his sudden dizziness he was struck by inspiration. "Wait" he muttered "THAT'S IT! I'LL USE "THAT" COMBINATION"

What combination Roark?

Roark immediately jumped up in surprise at the new voice. He turned around and saw none other than his grandfather. He was embarrassed to say the least.

"UMMMMMM Grandpa! I-I just thought up of a-a new combination I can use! "

"Well isn't that right? Let's see it!"

"Maybe after cranidos wakes up"

His grandfather nodded in understanding. Pokémon always came first. It was the first thing everyone in the Cobalt family line learned. A form of chivalry that reenforced the bonds between pokémon and human. Therefore increasing trust, power and determination.

"Well then, let's go Roark"

Right!

And with that the two entered the Oreburgh gate.

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**A/N** I'm not going to do anything relating to jubilife. There's not really much there. it's almost a cross between a city and a village. so yeah no jubilife sorry.

**I AM SO SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPPIE I PROMISE IT WILL BE LONGER NEXT TIME**

**PG84 Forever ashamed**


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